This three-week self-help program requires strong patient commitment and preparation. Patients must be ready to resist compulsions and learn to control obsessions through continued practice of skills for 8-10 days, during which distress will diminish and urges to ritualize will become easier to resist. The techniques provide opportunities for patients to gain freedom from symptoms, with the first days being the most difficult but improvement occurring faster with more frequent and longer exposures over time. Preparation includes rearranging commitments, informing supportive family and friends to refrain from reassurance or rituals, and choosing encouraging people to help practice without force. Guidelines are provided for exposure and imagery techniques.